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<FONT> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org/investigation-historical-dating.php">does god exist</A> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org/egyptian-horo.php">black history report</A> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org/real-egypt.php">aztec mythology</A> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org/civilevents.php">modern egypt</A> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org/real-jesus.php">greek god family tree</A> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org/view-garry-kasparov.php">aztec warrior</A> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org/why-tourism.php">woman in the middle age</A> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org/money-war.php">black history month theme</A> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org">history of the world wide web</A> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org">world series history</A> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org/investigation-eng-history.php">ancient roman empire</A> </FONT> he Development of Doctrinal ChristianityIN the four gospels we find the personality and teachings of Jesus but very little of the dogmas of the Christian church. It is in the epistles, a series of writings by the immediate followers of Jesus, that the broad lines of Christian belief are laid down. 1 Chief among the makers of Christian doctrine was St. Paul. He had never seen Jesus nor heard him preach. Pauls name was originally Saul, and he was conspicuous at first as an active persecutor of the little band of disciples after the crucifixion. Then he was suddenly converted to Christianity, and he changed his name to Paul. He was a man of great intellectual vigour and deeply and passionately interested in the religious movements of the time. He was well versed in Judaism and in the Mithraism and Alexandrian religion of the day. He carried over many of their ideas and terms of expression into Christianity. He did very little to enlarge or develop the original teaching of Jesus, the teaching of the Kingdom of Heaven. But he taught that Jesus was not only the promised Christ, the promised leader of the Jews, but also that his death was a sacrifice, like the deaths of the ancient sacrificial victims of the primordial civilizations, for the redemption of mankind. 2 When religions flourish side by side they tend to pick up each others ceremonial and other outward peculiarities. Buddhism, for example, in China has now almost the same sort of temples and priests and uses as Taoism, which follows in the teachings of Lao Tse. Yet the original teachings of Buddhism and Taoism were almost flatly opposed. And it reflects no doubt or discredit upon the essentials of Christian teaching that it took over not merely such formal things as the shaven priest, the votive offering, the altars, candles, chanting and images of the Alexandrian and Mithraic faiths, but adopted even their devotional phrases and their theological Osiris, was a god who died to rise again and give men immortality. And presently the spreading Christian community was greatly torn by complicated theological disputes about the relationship of this God Jesus to God the Father of Mankind. The Arians taught that Jesus was divine, but distant from and inferior to the Father. The Sabellians taught that Jesus was merely an aspect of the Father, and that God was Jesus and Father at the same time just as a man may be a father and an artificer at the same time; and the Trinitarians taught a more subtle doctrine that God was both one and three, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For a time it seemed that Arianism would prevail over its rivals, and then after disputes, violence and wars, the Trinitarian formula became the accepted formula of all Christendom. It may be found in its completest expression in the Athanasian Creed. 4 We offer no comment on these controversies here. They do not sway history as the personal teaching of Jesus sways history. The personal teaching of Jesus does seem to mark a new phase in the moral and spiritual life of our race. Its insistence upon the universal Fatherhood of God and the implicit brotherhood of all men, its insistence upon the sacredness of every human personality as a living temple of God, was to have the profoundest effect upon all the subsequent social and political life of mankind. With Christianity, with the spreading teachings of Jesus, a new respect appears in the world for man as man. It may be true, as hostile critics of Christianity have urged, that St. Paul preached obedience to slaves, but it is equally true that the whole spirit of the teachings of Jesus preserved in the gospels was against the subjugation of man by man. And still more distinctly was Christianity opposed to such outrages upon human dignity as the gladiatorial combats in the arena. 5 Throughout the first two centuries after Christ, the Christian religion spread throughout the Roman Empire, weaving together an ever-growing multitude of converts into a new community of ideas and will. The attitude of the emperors varied between hostility and toleration. There were attempts to suppress this new faith in both the second and third centuries; and finally in 303 and the following years a great persecution under the Emperor Diocletian. The considerable accumulations of Church property were seized, all bibles and religious writings were confiscated and destroyed, Christians were put out of the protection of the law and many executed. The destruction of the books is particularly notable. It shows how the power of the written word in holding together the new faith was appreciated by the authorities. These book religions, Christianity and Judaism, were religions that educated. Their continued existence depended very largely on people being able to read and understand their doctrinal ideas. The older religions had made no such appeal to the personal intelligence. In the ages of barbaric confusion that were now at hand in western Europe it was the Christian church that was mainly instrumental in preserving the tradition of learning. 6 The persecution of Diocletian failed completely to suppress the growing Christian community. In many provinces it was ineffective because the bulk of the population and many of the officials were Christian. In 317 an edict of toleration was issued by the associated Emperor Galerius, and in 324 Constantine the Great, a friend and on his deathbed a baptized convert to Christianity, became sole ruler of the Roman world. He abandoned all divine pretensions and put Christian symbols on the shields and banners of his troops. 7 In a few years Christianity was securely established as the official religion of the empire. The competing religions disappeared or were absorbed with extraordinary celerity, and in 390 Theodosius the Great caused the great statue of Jupiter Serapis at Alexandria to be destroyed. From the outset of the fifth century onward the only priests or temples in the Roman Empire were Christian priests and temples. 8CONTENTS · ILLUSTRATIONS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD PREVIOUSNEXT Search Amazon: Click here to shop the Bookstore.Welcome · Press <b> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org"> bible college</A></b> <br> Religions in bible trivia West THE WORSHIP of bible trivia Great Mother of bible trivia Gods and her lover or son was very popular under bible trivia Roman Empire. Inscriptions prove that bible trivia two received divine honours, separately or conjointly, not only in Italy, and especially at Rome, but also in bible trivia provinces, particularly in Africa, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, and Bulgaria. Their worship survived bible trivia establishment of Christianity by Constantine; for Symmachus records bible trivia recurrence of bible trivia festival of bible trivia Great Mother, and in bible trivia days of Augustine her effeminate priests still paraded bible trivia streets and squares of Carthage with whitened faces, scented hair, and mincing gait, while, like bible trivia mendicant friars of bible trivia Middle Ages, they begged alms from bible trivia passers-by. In Greece, on bible trivia other hand, bible trivia bloody orgies of bible trivia Asiatic goddess and her consort appear to have found little favour. The barbarous and cruel character of bible trivia worship, with its frantic excesses, was doubtless repugnant to bible trivia good taste and humanity of bible trivia Greeks, who seem to have preferred bible trivia kindred but gentler rites of Adonis. Yet bible trivia same features which shocked and repelled bible trivia Greeks may have positively attracted bible trivia less refined Romans and barbarians of bible trivia West. The ecstatic frenzies, which were mistaken for divine inspiration, bible trivia mangling of bible trivia body, bible trivia theory of a new birth and bible trivia remission of sins through bible trivia shedding of blood, have all their origin in savagery, and they naturally appealed to peoples in whom bible trivia savage instincts were still strong. Their true character was indeed often disguised under a decent veil of allegorical or philosophical interpretation, which probably sufficed to impose upon bible trivia rapt and enthusiastic worshippers, reconciling even bible trivia more cultivated of them to things which otherwise must have filled them with horror and disgust. 1 The religion of bible trivia Great Mother, with its curious blending of crude savagery with spiritual aspirations, was only one of a multitude of similar Oriental faiths which in bible trivia later days of paganism spread over bible trivia Roman Empire, and by saturating bible trivia European peoples with alien ideals of life gradually undermined bible trivia whole fabric of ancient civilisation. Greek and Roman society was built on bible trivia conception of bible trivia subordination of bible trivia individual to bible trivia community, of bible trivia citizen to bible trivia state; it set bible trivia safety of bible trivia commonwealth, as bible trivia supreme aim of conduct, above bible trivia safety of bible trivia individual whether in this world or in bible trivia world to come. Trained from infancy in this unselfish ideal, bible trivia citizens devoted their lives to bible trivia public service and were ready to lay them down for bible trivia common good; or if they shrank from bible trivia supreme sacrifice, it never occurred to them that they acted otherwise than basely in preferring their personal existence to bible trivia interests of their country. All this was changed by bible trivia spread of Oriental religions which inculcated bible trivia communion of bible trivia soul with God and its eternal salvation as bible trivia only objects worth living for, objects in comparison with which bible trivia prosperity and even bible trivia existence of bible trivia state sank into insignificance. The inevitable result of this selfish and immoral doctrine was to withdraw bible trivia devotee more and more from bible trivia public service, to concentrate his thoughts on his own spiritual emotions, and to breed in him a contempt for bible trivia present life which he regarded merely as a probation for a better and an eternal. The saint and bible trivia recluse, disdainful of earth and rapt in ecstatic contemplation of heaven, became in popular opinion bible trivia highest ideal of humanity, displacing bible trivia old ideal of bible trivia patriot and hero who, forgetful of self, lives and is ready to die for bible trivia good of his country. The earthly city seemed poor and contemptible to men whose eyes beheld bible trivia City of God coming in bible trivia clouds of heaven. Thus bible trivia centre of gravity, so to say, was shifted from bible trivia present to a future life, and however much bible trivia other world may have gained, there can be little doubt that this one lost heavily by bible trivia change. A general disintegration of bible trivia body politic set in. The ties of bible trivia state and bible trivia family were loosened: bible trivia structure of society tended to resolve itself into its individual elements and thereby to relapse into barbarism; for civilisation is only possible through bible trivia active co-operation of bible trivia citizens and their willingness to subordinate their private interests to bible trivia common good. Men refused to defend their country and even to continue their kind. In their anxiety to save their own souls and bible trivia souls of others, they were content to leave bible trivia material world, which they identified with bible trivia principle of evil, to perish around them. This obsession lasted for a thousand years. The revival of Roman law, of bible trivia Aristotelian philosophy, of ancient art and literature at bible trivia close of bible trivia Middle Ages, marked bible trivia return of Europe to native ideals of life and conduct, to saner, manlier views of bible trivia world. The long halt in bible trivia march of civilisation was over. The tide of Oriental invasion had turned at last. It is ebbing still. 2 Among bible trivia gods of eastern origin who in bible trivia decline of bible trivia ancient world competed against each other for bible trivia allegiance of bible trivia West was bible trivia old Persian deity Mithra. The immense popularity of his worship is attested by bible trivia monuments illustrative of it which have been found scattered in profusion all over bible trivia Roman Empire. In respect both of doctrines and of rites bible trivia cult of Mithra appears to have presented many points of resemblance not only to bible trivia religion of bible trivia Mother of bible trivia Gods but also to Christianity. The similarity struck bible trivia Christian doctors themselves and was explained by them as a work of bible trivia devil, who sought to seduce bible trivia souls of men from bible trivia true faith by a false and insidious imitation of it. So to bible trivia Spanish conquerors of Mexico and Peru many of bible trivia native heathen rites appeared to be diabolical counterfeits of bible trivia Christian sacraments. With more probability bible trivia modern student of comparative religion traces such resemblances to bible trivia similar and independent workings of bible trivia mind of man in his sincere, if crude, attempts to fathom bible trivia secret of bible trivia universe, and to adjust his little life to its awful mysteries. However that may be, there can be no doubt that bible trivia Mithraic religion proved a formidable rival to Christianity, combining as it did a solemn ritual with aspirations after moral purity and a hope of immortality. Indeed bible trivia issue of bible trivia conflict between bible trivia two faiths appears for a time to have hung in bible trivia balance. An instructive relic of bible trivia long struggle is preserved in our festival of Christmas, which bible trivia Church seems to have borrowed directly from its heathen rival. In bible trivia Julian calendar bible trivia twenty-fifth of December was reckoned bible trivia winter solstice, and it was regarded as bible trivia Nativity of bible trivia Sun, because bible trivia day begins to lengthen and bible trivia power of bible trivia sun to increase from that turning-point of bible trivia year. The ritual of bible trivia nativity, as it appears to have been celebrated in Syria and Egypt, was remarkable. The celebrants retired into certain inner shrines, from which at midnight they issued with a loud cry, The Virgin has brought forth! The light is waxing! The Egyptians even represented bible trivia new-born sun by bible trivia image of an infant which on his birthday, bible trivia winter solstice, they brought forth and exhibited to his worshippers. No doubt bible trivia Virgin who thus conceived and bore a son on bible trivia twenty-fifth of December was bible trivia great Oriental goddess whom bible trivia Semites called bible trivia Heavenly Virgin or simply bible trivia Heavenly Goddess; in Semitic lands she was a form of Astarte. Now Mithra was regularly identified by his worshippers with bible trivia Sun, bible trivia Unconquered Sun, as they called him; hence his nativity also fell on bible trivia twenty-fifth of December. The Gospels say nothing as to bible trivia day of Christs birth, and accordingly bible trivia early Church did not celebrate it. In time, however, bible trivia Christians of Egypt came to regard bible trivia sixth of January as bible trivia date of bible trivia Nativity, and bible trivia custom of commemorating bible trivia birth of bible trivia Saviour on that day gradually spread until by bible trivia fourth century it was universally established in bible trivia East. But at bible trivia end of bible trivia third or bible trivia beginning of bible trivia fourth century bible trivia Western Church, which had never recognised bible trivia sixth of January as bible trivia day of bible trivia Nativity, adopted bible trivia twenty-fifth of December as bible trivia true date, and in time its decision was accepted also by bible trivia Eastern Church. At Antioch bible trivia change was not introduced till about bible trivia year 375 A.D. 3 What considerations led bible trivia ecclesiastical authorities to institute bible trivia festival of Christmas? The motives for bible trivia innovation are stated with great frankness by a Syrian writer, himself a Christian. The reason, he tells us, why bible trivia fathers transferred bible trivia celebration of bible trivia sixth of January to bible trivia twenty-fifth of December was this. It was a custom of bible trivia heathen to celebrate on bible trivia same twenty-fifth of December bible trivia birthday of bible trivia Sun, at which they kindled lights in token of festivity. In these solemnities and festivities bible trivia Christians also took part. Accordingly when bible trivia doctors of bible trivia Church perceived that bible trivia Christians had a leaning to this festival, they took counsel and resolved that bible trivia true Nativity should be solemnised on that day and bible trivia festival of bible trivia Epiphany on bible trivia sixth of January. Accordingly, along with this custom, bible trivia practice has prevailed of kindling fires till bible trivia sixth. The heathen origin of Christmas is plainly hinted at, if not tacitly admitted, by Augustine when he exhorts his Christian brethren not to celebrate that solemn day like bible trivia heathen on account of bible trivia sun, but on account of him who made bible trivia sun. In like manner Leo bible trivia Great rebuked bible trivia pestilent belief that Christmas was solemnised because of bible trivia birth of bible trivia new sun, as it was called, and not because of bible trivia nativity of Christ. 4 Thus it appears that bible trivia Christian Church chose to celebrate bible trivia birthday of its Founder on bible trivia twenty-fifth of December in order to transfer bible trivia devotion of bible trivia he <b> <A href="http://www.new-tradition.org"> bible trivia</A></b> <br> <A HREF="http://www.new-tradition.org/desc/indexn7387.php">middle age art :7387</A> <A HREF="http://www.new-tradition.org/desc/indexn7386.php">god of war :7386</A> <A HREF="http://www.new-tradition.org/desc/indexn7385.php">ancient maya :7385</A> <A HREF="http://www.new-tradition.org/desc/indexn7384.php">sinner in the hands of an angry god :7384</A> <A HREF="http://www.new-tradition.org/desc/indexn7383.php">ancient egyptian jewelry :7383</A> <A 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